Your Funeral Guy has been Featured in the Washington Times

A Your Funeral Guy blog  story has been referenced in the Washington Times in early 2010. The blogpost is about the Rise of Indigent Burials in 09. The article is titled  “Rising Public  Costs for Cremation and  Burial“  The  Funeral Cost and News Story talks about how local governments are paying for Funerals for the Poor in the UnitedStates.

Snippet:

The sale of life insurance policies will hurt the funeral industry

Because of the severity of the recession banks have been buying up life insurance policies. Some of the big banks are bundling them together just as they did debt before the Wall Street Crash a year ago. These  Wallstreet banks are selling them as bonds.

This is a risky investment scheme. This will hurt the funeral industry because in the majority of cases life insurance is the vehicle that folks pay for a funeral.

This is another bad sign for the traditional funeral industry in the USA.

From the New York Times:

“The bankers plan to buy “life settlements,” life insurance policies that ill and elderly people sell for cash — $400,000 for a $1 million policy, say, depending on the life expectancy of the insured person. Then they plan to “securitize” these policies, in Wall Street jargon, by packaging hundreds or thousands together into bonds. They will then resell those bonds to investors, like big pension funds, who will receive the payouts when people with the insurance die.

The earlier the policyholder dies, the bigger the return — though if people live longer than expected, investors could get poor returns or even lose money.”

This  will mean lost income for the Funeral Business.

Funeral industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy.

The Funeral Industry takes another hit

Senator Ted  “Edward”Kennedy Funeral|memorial service live streaming video—-There will be Live streaming video for the  the Senator “Edward” Ted Kennedy Memorial Service Friday night. This will be at tedkennedy.org.

CLICK HERE AT 7PM EDT FOR LIVE STREAMING VIDEO ON THE SENATOR KENNEDY CELEBRATION OF LIFE-FRI

CLICK HERE AT 7PM EDT FOR LIVE STREAMING VIDEO ON THE SENATOR KENNEDY CELEBRATION OF LIFE-FRI

Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy

JFK Presidential Library pic from flickr under the creative commons license from

neprowell’s photostream

Walter Cronkite Funeral to be Webcast on internet

The Walter Cronkite Funeral will be webcast live at cbsnews.com at 2pm (eastern) on 7.23.09 . If you have the time you can view the Walter Cronkite Funeral at the CBS website. More and more folks are webcasting funerals and some funeral homes offer this service. This is a kindness shown to Walter Cronkite .

If your friends and family can not make it to a funeral, the webcast is an alternative that allows participation.

From the NewYorkTimes;

CBS News will webcast the family funeral service for the former anchorman Walter Cronkite on Thursday…

the private service will include tributes by the “60 Minutes” commentator Andy Rooney and Mr. Cronkite’s son Chip, among others.

Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy.

Three popular online memorials For Walter Cronkite

Illinois Burr Oak Cemetery Scandal Largest in US HISTORY

The Burr Oak cemetery disaster may be the worst cemetery disaster in US History.  Up to 100,000 graves will have to be examined. 300 graves dug up, mean three hundred love ones disturbed, a scandal causing grief. This is a sad commentary on our culture. IF YOU ARE DEAD AND CAN’T BE SAFE IN THE GRAVE WHERE CAN YOU BE SAFE?

Reports say that the folks got only about $300,000. How far will that take you? Up to 100,000 grave

THIS SHOULD SERVE AS A WARNING TO ALL WHO ARRANGE FUNERALS & BURIALS, Check out what is going on and who you are dealing with.

Snippet From the Aurora Beacon News.

“The Cook County sheriff’s office estimates that about 300 bodies were dumped at the rear of Burr Oak, in an area about the size of three football fields.”

The body count appears to be going higher and higher.

The Scandal took place at an historic African American Cemetery

This is sad because this is an African America Cemetery in Alsip,Illinois  with prominent black leaders buried there.

There are reports that families are gathering for a vigil on Sunday July 12,2009 at the cemetery.

According to a posted ABC 7 News report at tribdemo.sites.5ksites.com:

Investigators say more than 100,000 gravesites will need to be inspected at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip

The financial end of this tragedy involved preneed and cemetery plots.

Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy.

Sadly Illinois Burial Scandal where up to 300 bodies desecrated.

Discarding  and desecrating bodies and collecting money by reusing graves-This happened at the Burr Oak Cemetery in  the Chicago Area- Alsip, IL. Two words made this happen Preneed and Greed.Reports state that up to 300 bodies have been desecrated.

In the last post entitled Burr Ridge Cemetery Scandal| Could humans have done this?-YourFuneralguy.

One realizes that humans did do this and that their main motivation was greed. The way they pulled it off was through at need and preneed cemetery sales.

There are not tough enough laws in  Illlinois for the selling of  cemetery sites in the State of Illinois. Most sites are sold on a preneed basis. This means that people buy cemetery property before their funeral. Many times a preened insurance policy is used.

Snippet  from the Chicago Tribune:

“Illinois Rep. Dan Brady (R-Bloomington) said today the Alsip cemetery scandal illustrates why the state needs stricter regulations over individuals who sell “the pre-need burial spaces in the state.”

Funeral and Cemetery Preneed  Policies have been a probem in the State of Illinois as mentioned often in this blog. In fact the loss of the two largest  Funeral Corporations in the United States. Service Corporation International and Stewart Enterprises  have had horrible loses in Cemetery Sales.

Those in the Cemetery business are hurting. The people  involved here have taken it upon themselves to hurt others by desecrating graves. This a sad burial scandal.

Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy

Site of Farah Fawcett Funeral and reported burial June 30th 2009

Will Farrah Fawcett be buried at church or at the Cemetery? Several places are reporting the Farrah Fawcett is to have a private funeral and burial  on June 30th  2009 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of  the Angels in LA. . It will be following the funeral  4pm Pacific Time. Earlier reports had the funeral set for Wednesday, July 1st.

In the tradition of the Medieval Churches the Modern Los Angeles Catholic church has a mausoleum and cremation Niches beneath the floor of the Sanctuary.

A famous celebrity is buried there Gregory Peck.

Find  A Grave.Com says the church is the cemetery

“Burial:
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
Los Angeles
Los Angeles County
California, USA”

Funeral Industry | Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy.

Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels, LA  picture from wikepedia

Farrah Fawcett Poster pic from Wikipedia. Information below from wikepedia  pic link as well.

Farrah Fawcett  below pic from

in a  scene  from “Someone Killed Her Husband” in 1978. from LA Times

A Leading National Independent Funeral Directors Association is having deep difficulties.-The Order of the Golden Rule.

News-6.22.09- The funeral organization “Order of the Golden Rule” OGR is downsizing, restructuring and evaluating all staff. This situation  is similar to the demise of the Illinois Funeral Director Association(IFDA)early on.

1.The executive director is gone and an interim executive has been put in place.

2. There is an indication of financial irregularity.

3. An indication of leadership deficits.

Whether there is Scandal behind this event or not time will tell. One can say with certainty that this breaking apart  and downsizing of the Order of the Golden Rule ia another indicator of a funeral industry/business decline.

Here is a quote from the head of the Order of the Golden Rule posted  at  ConnectingDirectors.com:

Dear Friends:

Fragile Economy contributed to the Order of The Golden Rules problem.

In my most recent messages I’ve noted that we all are experiencing an unstable business climate requiring us to use “every ounce of savvy management skill we possess to keep our businesses intact and competitive.” This is no less true of our professional organization. As is the case with our own businesses, OGR has had to face a number of economic challenges, some of which are the result of practices that have not kept pace with prevailing management trends and fiscal prudence.

For the past year, the Board has addressed significant challenges in re-directing the course of OGR to secure its future ability to

• strategically reconstitute its mission and effectively respond to the needs of its members;

• restructure its internal operations toward accountability and contemporary management practices; and

• re-commit to exemplary leadership in the funeral services industry.

As part of this process, the Board secured the help of seasoned association professionals to evaluate and advise about our governance, functional operations, and member services.

With that said, hard decisions have been made with a clear focus on re-creating OGR’s role of leadership for the future…and our work has only just begun!  The preliminary decisions that have been made toward OGR’s future include:

1.  Changes in staff management;

2.  Relocation of the OGR corporate office and restructure of staff functions;

3.  Re-evaluation of all programs and services; and, most important,

4.  Re-alignment of member values, mission and member criteria………….

With kind regards,

Koven Brown
President

OGR President Koven Brown

THERE  IS ONE MORE SIMILARITY TO THE THE ILLINOIS FUNERAL ONE PERSON: RANDALL L EARL.RANDALL L EARL IS A PAST PRESIDENT OF  THE OGR and THE ILLINOIS FUNERAL DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION.

What all this means is CHECK UP ON YOUR FUNERAL DIRECTOR(S).

It appears that the OGR President is being transparent, something we did not see from the IFDA.

Whether there is Scandal behind this event or not time will tell.
Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy.

OGR’s official name is  International Order of the Golden Rule.

European|Green Cemetery(getty images rf)

A section of a Non-Profit Municipal Cemetery has been put aside for Green Burials, in Lawrence, Kansas. For profit geen burial grounds are growing in the United States. This is the first type of this kind of cemetery for Kansas, and maybe the United States. Green burial grounds are less expensive to maintain and can be a cost advantage for municipalities.

Embalming fluid and metal caskets are prohibited. The Oakhill cemetery is fairly close to Kansas City. Most green cemeteries are located quite a distance from the metropolitan areas. Transportation for out of city green funeral  can raise funeral cost.

Funeral Industry|Funeral Cost Blog  by your Funeral Guy.

Source: KansasCity.com

In one year the Illinois Funeral Directors Association will be gone

It s Bad and Sad for the Illinois Funeral Directors Association They are hanging on to the past when they should be looking to the future. The Grim Reaper is staring down face of the Illinois Funeral Directors Association.

First, the Illinois Funeral Directors association  is not willing to change. They have chosen a poor and good old boys lineup of speakers for their Convention.

Randall L Earl-The Embattled NFDA Executive Secretary- has brought the Organization down, he has been Named in 4 lawsuits. There is evidence that this former IFDA President started the decline of the IFDA Preneed Trust. He may have fraudulently setup the Museum of Funeral Customs. If there is to be a new IFDA he should be let nowhere near the Convention center let alone the podium.

IFDA, NFDA Leaders and Merrill Lynch contributed to the Demise

Jeffrey L. Byran-According to the convention brochure: Jeff  works with the Merrill Lynch guys. Why have someone speak who is in with the folks taking your organization down?

James D. Bosma- The current IFDA President is also named in 4 Lawsuits. He said in the 2009  “IFDA Yearbook”  Common sense and plain dealing…..I believe that the mistakes of the past. were honest mistakes” Honest mistakes do not result in 4 lawsuits multigovernmental investigations, and months of negative press. (Source: the convention Brochure and the Yearbook)

The Comptroller and other State of Illinois regulators have driven nails in to the IFDA coffin.

Second, they are facing an almost  10 million dollar payment demand from The Comptroller of the State of Illinois.

Check  this out in the State Journal Article: Hynes demands $10M from funeral directors

Third the COMPTROLLER of the STATE of Illinois has taken over the administration of an 18 million dollar semicriminal settletment with Merrill Lynch.  The Funds belong to the IFDA Preneed Trust,the citizens of the state and the funeral homes who sold the policies. This infuriates funeral directors in the State.

Read: “Merrill Lynch agrees to settle funeral fund case for $18M

For these reasons and others the Illinois Funeral Directors Association  will soon check out for good. The IFDA will be gone. They will layoff everyone.

“My prediction is that the Illinois Funeral directors association  will be out of business by this time next year.”-yourfuneralguy

The lesson here for Consumers in Illinois is to avoid IFDA Preneed, for funeral directors start over, elect good leaders.

There will be no new Funeral Directors Association in Illinois this year, 2009.

Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy

Weddings may be taking place in cemeteries and funeral homes in the near future.

Now you can do more than lower the cost of your funeral at a cemetery. You can lower your the cost of your wedding as well.  Cemeteries and funeral homes have been reported to be  an  alternative spot for weddings.

In a Milwaukee  Sentinel l Journal Article a  Stewart Enterprises  Employee said:

“Funerals are becoming much more a celebration of life than a dark event, so why not have your wedding at a funeral home?” said Denise Westerfield, spokeswoman for Stewart Enterprises Inc., which operates Wisconsin Memorial Park and about 360 funeral homes and cemeteries across the nation.

Brookfield city officials say there is nothing stopping the park from holding weddings and baptisms in its original Great Memorial Building, the mausoleum with a church-like Chapel of the Chimes where the Jessweins wed.”

Stewart Enterprises, Inc (STEI) and Service Corporation International(NYSE: SCI) may do well to enter this market. There cemetery sales are in a deep black hole since the economic downturn began.

If these guys enter this market they soon would be able to offer Americans affordable funerals. Funeral Corporations  small and large being stuck  in  an unrealistic traditional funeral model may not be able to make this change.

Funeral Industry| Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy.

A significant comment was made on last blog post.

“Funeral Guy and Friends,
The plot thickens here in the good ole’ Land of Lincoln.

Regarding the article in the Springfield State Journal-Register the comment from the AARP consumer advocacy lady Nancy Nelson. It would pay Ms. Nelson to do her homework on the facts of the IFDA Trust debacle. She obviously hasn’t a clue what went on and what is going on. She needs to know that we in Illinois do not need any additional oversight, because that is in place and suppose to be done by Dan Hynes and Company (Cemetery Care and Burial Trust Div.) at the Comptrollers Office, who still has some answering to do to those of out here who suffered substantial losses by not notifying us immediately when they saw the potential disaster awaiting us.

Funeral Corruption in Illinois

No doubt the Illinois Funeral and Burial Funds Act needs a serious update. Placing it under the watch of additional regulatory agency(s) IS NOT THE ANSWER. If all of the critics will remember IFDA sent us F.H. owners and account holders earning statements. while Schainker, Dixon, and the Fraternal Brothers and Sisters of the “Secret Society” (Board Members) were playing “Let’s Get The Commissions” of converting cash to insurance and placing us at risk.

It has been said by Hynes’ Office that he felt the Cemetery Care and Burial Trust Div. of his office needed to be regulated by another entity like the div. of insurance or banks and Trusts under the the Department of Finance and Profession Regulation. A Idea I tend to agree with, however I might prefer the IL Secretary of States Office. Anyway, that doesn’t matter right now, Change IS coming, to borrow a line from Mr. O’bama.

I’m going to ask a favor of you and to back off your harsh comments of Duane Marsh. He is walking though a mine field of issues and is being somewhat misguided by the remaining board members of IFDA who have chosen to ignore several resignation requests by it’s membership and stayed on for spite. In the very near future IFDA will have new people (hopefully) in place to try to set a new course and direction for IFDA, and the very people who deserve it, the membership and the families they serve. I think he is calling NFDA to ask for help in getting copies of Trust laws from throughout the land. Maybe Mr. Earl (Randall L Earl, NFDA executive secretary)offered his help, being the all important person he believes himself to be. Just what does Mr. Earl bring to the table of funeral service anyway??? I have yet to hear him speak at meetings of IFDA functions or show any leadership skills that tell me there is a true leader. That old saying comes to mind, “If you can’t dazzle ‘em with brilliance baffle ‘em with B.S.”.

I’ve missed something about our friend Mr. Earl. I see you have him as being is three lawsuits. I know of the Consumer Class Action and the Derivative Suit, what is the third if I can ask?

I just wonder when a Federal Grand Jury is going to take a look at this ordeal.

Thanks for the opportunity to express my thoughts.

Marsellus M710″

IFDA=Illinois Funeral Directors Association

NFDA=National Funeral Directors Association

Funeral Industry Blog |Your Funeral Guy

The National Funeral Director  Association’s

The Fragile Economy has made things difficult for the funeral industry. It has made end of life choices easier to negotiate.

lower convention fees indicate a hurting funeral industry. A significant drop in Convention rates between 2008 and 2009  indicate difficulties for the “recession proof industry”.

Although  people are still dying folks are demanding lower costs and choosing the low cost option of cremation. This puts the consumer in a strong position to negotiate funeral costs.

Funeral homes just like the National Funeral Directors have had to settle for lower rates and lowe margins.

This is the time to negotiated a lower cost funeral. Take advantage of the economy breaking  to  funeral consumers

Negotiate a lower cost funeral and pay less.

Here is the Comparison in Convention Rates between 2008 and 2009 according to the NFDA.

From the NFDA Press Release

“Brookfield, Wis. – Bearing in mind the challenging economic circumstances funeral directors are facing…..the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) is making its convention more affordable than ever.”

Psssst-funeral costs are more affordable than ever too.

Challenging economic circumstances make it easier for the consumer to negotiate funeral costs down under the average cost of a Funeral.

Funeral Industry| Funeral Costs Blog by Your Funeral Guy.

Your Funeral Guy has declared the Average cost of a Funeral in 2009 to bew $8,500 + dollars.

Best not to purchase preneed,too much behind the scenes SHHH and Scandal

Preneed  or Prepaid  funerals has had major disasters. In 2008 the NPS  disaster took place came to a breaking point on September 22nd 2008.

In 2oo9 the Illinois Funeral Directors Association Historic Preneed Scandal came to ahead with the revelation of Lawsuits and major press coverage around February 1st.

NPS  and IFDA losses are estimated to be between 1 Billion and 1.6 Billion. The Funeral industry is often quoted as being a 15 billion dollar industry. So the loss in at National Prearranged services and IFDA s Preneed Trust is close to 10% of the funeral industry’s income.

Both the NPS and IFDA had ponzi like insurance scams. There are  main differences between the two is size. NPS lost over 1 Billion+ and the IFDA 59+million.

The IFDA used special key guy insurance life insurance policies. NPS used whole life and term insurance policies.

At NPS there was state investigations going back 10 years and more. Sure hope the IFDA mess investigations does not carry on that long.

In the NPS scenario it was known who the major players were and they were named often. This is not true of the IFDA Preneed Trust mess.

A good summary of the National Prearranged Services Scandal appeared in the State Journal Register over the Weekend.

“Consumers would buy funeral contracts from NPS that were funded with life insurance policies that paid out to funeral homes upon death. Under state laws, funeral homes that agreed to do business with NPS were obligated to pay for funerals if something went wrong. And things went horribly wrong last year…..The insurance policies were issued by two Texas-based companies affiliated with NPS. At some point, regulators say, policies were switched from whole life insurance, which has some value so long as premiums are paid and remains in force until death, to term life insurance, which expires after a set period of time and has no value unless someone dies. Financial ruin ensued.“

Any time funeral funds are misappropriated some one has to pay. It is usually the Funeral Director and the Funeral Consumer.

Sadly these events have moved the public away from trusting funeral professionals.

Funeral Industry|Funeral Costs Blog by Your Funeral Guy

Roland Burris Refused to bring information forward in an Illinois Funeral Scam, Now he has to give the information to court.

Breaking News Senator Roland Burris’s “papers” have been subpoenaed in the alleged Illinois Funeral Directors Association Ponzi Scheme. This is important because every time the funeral directors and the  public are taken advantage of  in a preneed or prepaid ponzi situation  the average cost of a funeral rises, funds are lost.

When TRUST Funds are Misappropriated People lose Money.

In the case of the IFDA Preneed trust there was a $59 Million loss and their are hundreds of questions as to where the money went. There are also lawsuits. In one six funeral director lawsuit with the lead name

“Calvert Funeral Homes” of Bloomington, Illinois Burris’s papers have been subpoenaed.  Check that lawsuit out here

“Around the country the story has been released by the (AP) Funeral Directors subpoena Burris”

As stated in the the last blog post quote-  Springfield, IL  Newspaper

“When Burris was state comptroller in 1980, he granted the Illinois Funeral Directors Association a license to manage the fund. More than two decades later, the IFDA hired Burris to lobby Comptroller Dan Hynes’ office, which regulates the funeral industry.Burris, a Chicago Democrat, hasn’t answered questions on the matter.”

Your Funeral Guy, The State Journal Register, and the Illinois Senate President have been asking Burris to come forward with the knowledge he has about the IFDA alleged Ponzi Scheme. For over 2 months he has refused.

Now he will have give the information to a court-State Journal Register Posting 4/10/09 11:33 pm

“In the subpoena filed Friday in Cook County Circuit and sent to Burris via certified mail, the plaintiffs demand:

• All documents and communications pertaining to the pre-need trust fund.
• Documents relating to the issuance of IFDA’s license issued by the comptroller’s office in 1980.
• Documents showing Burris’ analysis of the license revocation.
• Documents showing how much IFDA paid Burris to lobby state regulators and the terms under which he was retained.”

These documents will begin to reveal much as to what has been going on with the IFDA Preneed Trust Ponzi Scheme for 30 Years.

Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy.

Burris pick from FLICKR under creative commons license

cornfed1975’s photostream

ifda
calvert funeral homes
calvert metzler
preneed

What other IFDA PERKS will they discover?They just discovered our free IFDA life insurance policies.

Today it was revealed that IFDA members got free life insurance policies.  It is another piece of evidence that some who where involved in the  IFDA Preneed Trust fund paid themselves with a bunch of fancy perks.

It  is a word of warning for those who turn their money over to funeral directors for their final expenses. They might just spend it on themselves. As in the case of the IFDA Trust they can keep some of the money for themselves. According to the Chicago Tribune April 7th 2009 on the “IFDA Preneed Trust”

“Funeral directors could keep a cut of the interest earned on the accounts.“

Who got the perks?  Were their other perks? Did IFDA leaders get free life insurance policies?

Did the Current NFDA(National Funeral Directors Association) Executive Secretary Randall L Earl get perks? He is not talking.

What was the funding vehicle or how/if  funds were transfered out of the trust were used to pay for the policies is not known. The likely candidate is  IFDA Services, INC.  Again from the Chicago Tribune.

“One type of policy used individual funeral directors as the insured. Schainker allegedly solicited funeral directors by offering them a free $25,000 life insurance policy that would be funded by the IFDA, the complaint said.

It’s not clear from the complaint whether consumer deposits were used to pay for the $25,000

Corruption at the IFDA started years ago.

policies.”
The secretary of state charges that the solicitation violated the state’s insurance laws and constitute illegal payments.”

Does this mean that the IFDA made Illegal Payments?

THE LESSON FOR THE CONSUMER IS DO NOT PREPAY YOUR FUNERAL TO THE FUNERAL DIRECTOR.

Funeral Industry|Funeral Costs Blog By Your Funeral Guy. Funeral Director, Illinois and Virginia.

Corruption Starts here pic from flickr

DottieboBottie’s photostream

Demaine Funeral Home an SCI location where Mr.Frederici wanted his father to go.

News 4.05.09 The worlds largest funeral company(SCI) has been caught abusing the dead(AGAIN). This happened in the nations capitol and was reported in the Washington Post.

The story gets worse,  it appears that many of those families hurt were  military Veterans  headed for Arlington National Cemetery according to the report.

“Ronald Federici’s father, a retired Army colonel, had just died, and Federici wanted to escort his body to Demaine Funeral Home in Alexandria. But the driver who came to pick up the remains at the hospital said he wasn’t going to Demaine, he was going to some other place……Federici said, the foul odor of decomposition smacked him.” upon arrival at the other place.

It is a good thing that Mr Frederici followed the van to National Funeral Home in Falls Church,Va. It is always best for the consumer to check up on the Funeral Home and the Funeral director.

“Let’s just say that bodies were not  cared for properly, as  Mr.Frederici said:

The stench was horrific,” Federici, 53, said about the cooler. “Bodies were laying buck naked all over the place. There was no dignity whatsoever. It was disgusting, degrading and humiliating.”

From my own experience of working in the area I can say that National Funeral Home has some of the highest funeral costs in the area. One of the 4 employees that spoke to authorities presented pictures.

The Washington Post Article and Video are a must see.

Service Corporation International or SCI is the Largest Funeral Corporation in  World.  The SCI Founder Robert Waltrip is a close friend of the Ex Presidents’  Bush Family. It is time for this SCI executive to go. Check out a previous SCI scandal here.

Service Corporation International (SCI) operates over 1500 Funeral Homes and over 400 Cemeteries according to their website. SCI is conducting an independent investigation. The authorities are also investigating the situation.

This is as disaster to as i see it for the funeral industry. A  national corpse  abuse scandal at the same time as preneed fraud is focused in Illinois on the IFDA and nationally on the NFDA Executive Secretary Randall L Earl.

More Black Marks on Funeral Directors.

Funeral Costs| Funeral Industry Blog by your funeral guy

Funeral Director Illinois and Virginia.

I’m sure SCI did not treat Ronald Reagan’s body this way.

Robert Waltrip is a national figure connected to the BUSH Family. He has been mentioned in many newspaper and web articles over the years. This post is not an attack on his person or corporation. Too many Scandals for a public figure often means they should step aside, until things are resolved,

Demaine Funeral Home pic from FLICKR

NCinDC’s photostream

service corporation international

To save money on a Funeral You can skip the funeral home and go right to the cremation facility

One strategy folks have been following to come in under the average cost of a funeral is to skip the funeral home and go right to the crematory. Money wise people who find themselves faced with a funeral are choosing cremation. But some are taking it further, letting go of the funeral home altogether and going right to the cremation site.

One Clergyman had a discussion with a funeral director in this:

“Having asked why there seemed to have been so few funerals in the period since Christmas (genuinely, because it seems to have been unusually quiet), I was told that not least because of the current economic circumstances, people were by-passing Funeral Directors and Clergy and taking their relatives directly to the crematorium to keep costs down.”

This is a significant low cost funeral tool. Skip the funeral home and go to the crematory.

Watch out however for a funeral home that has a crematory. Remember the processing cost for a cremation is $400.00 USD in the USA. The funeral home is entitled to make money on their services.

But what is fair is up for you to decide.

Funeral Cost | Funeral Industry Blog by Your Funeral Guy

view the full clergyman’s post here

Pic from Dr.Mo’s photo stream on Flickr.

Funeral Industry Downturn has folks negotiating Lower Cost Funerals

The economy has brought a downturn in the Funeral Industry across the United States. This is covered in the media almost daily. The average cost of a funeral is has headed  towards a bottom, just like the economy.

This trend is good for the consumer, but not for the funeral director. The Financial Magazine Forbes did an article on this. It is the first I have seen in that publication. The Funeral Industry is not “Recession proof” as was stated by the media when the effects of the recession became acute last fall.

Forbes quoted Funeral Director Peter Mahoney of  Mahoney Funeral Homes in New York:

“Given the economy today and the way people are watching their dollars and cents, people are more

Funeral Consumers watching dollars and cents

price conscious,” says Maloney. “Funeral services are not a luxury service.“

In fact funeral services are a must have service just like groceries. Just like groceries if you shop around you often can find the same item for lower cost. The same is true for Funerals.

The Funeral Industry needs to stand up and take notice of the trend to a lower cost funeral. Consumers are brushing up on their negotiating skills and bringing down the average cost of a funeral.

Funeral Industry|Funeral cost blog by Your Funeral Guy.

Pics from Istock photo

Source  Forbes article at forbes.com titled:

“Recession-Friendly Rites by
Lauren Streib, posted 03.24.09, 06:55 PM EDT,
The economy takes its toll on the funeral business”

Choose cremation if you need to Lower Funeral Costs.

The Funeral Industry is having a tough time around the country, because  of the difficult economy. Every day there is more evidence for the downward spiral of the average cost of a  traditional funeral.

I have declared the average cost of a  traditional funeral to be $8,500+dollars in 2009. For the first quarter of 2009 that number is trending significantly downward.

This number has been recently confirmed by numbers in Washington State. More and more folks are requesting cremation there and in the the rest of the country. According to KXLY.COM in  Spokane,Washington-Heritage Funeral Home President Dennis Murphy said:

“An individual cremation, you’re looking at less than $1,000, and with the average full body burial with cemetery property you’re looking at $8,000 to $9,000

The bad economy equals more cremations this year.

“I’d say they’re up 25 percent,” Murphy said.

In Washington 75 percent of all funeral business is cremation, and Murphy says that number could reach 85 percent before the year is out.”

A similar article has been posted at the Seattle Times and carried in Parade Magazine, and the Boston Herald. It shared similar information to what has been presented here.

A Rise in Cremation has been documented across the United States of America.

Funeral Industry Funeral Cost Blog by Your Funeral Guy.

Illinois seems to be in a panic over preneed funeral money. Thank the antics of the Illinois Funeral Directors Association and their $59 million “Madoff  fund”. This is a classic case of attacking the messenger. There is “confused and frightened public.” said IFDA insider Chris Butler of Butler Funeral Homes and Cremation Tribute Center in Springfield,IL. The IFDA Preneed scam is what confused and frightened the public not a State Register Editorial and a series of articles as he claims.-your funeral guy.

Funeral Funding Fear in Illinois over "Madoff" like fund

News March 24th 2009 An article by an Illinois Funeral Directors Association Insider has been posted at the State Journal Register. There seems to be a frightened public, a panic in Illinois about their Preneed Funeral Policies. Chris Butler a local Funeral Director  in Illinois and former IFDA committee member said:

People are hurt when they do not get what they paid for in the death of a loved one.

When writing about Funeral $$ it becomes easy to forget that there are faces behind those funeral dollars. The bigger the numbers the more people are involved. So how will the folks be notified of losses in the funds they prepaid for funerals?

People are  terribly hurt at the time of death when they discover the prepaid  funds are not there.

“There must be an effort to notify individuals of their investment’s status and exactly what will happen when funeral bills arrive.“-the State Journal Register newspaper.

“A question was asked on a blog.“John Duggan has a point, and that’s what concerns regulators in Illinois, Missouri and Texas. Who will be blamed when the consumer does not get the benefit of their preneed contract?”

The Illinois Funeral Directors Association and the Comptroller in that State say that the Funeral Home must cover the losses. But what happens to those non guaranteed policies where the folks lost money?

Many Times  folks  in Illinois were told not to worry about the non guaranteed policies because the IFDA was paying a good interest on their policy. Well misappropriation and abuse  sent that out the window. Who will notify these folks of their losses?As reported here, in the State Journal Register and the Chicago Tribune Lynda Canger of Lake Zurich did not get notified.

Who will notify folks of their preneed losses before the time of death?

Funeral Industry Funeral Costs Blog by Your Funeral Guy

Traditional Preneed has appeared to have an abrupt death due to decapitation in 2008 Too much time on the unsafe teeter totter of death-funeral director greed.

Breaking News-March 15- The Chicago Tribune gave some   new affirmations to the death and dying of  preneed or prepaid funerals. As the death of  preneed continues the average cost of a funeral will go down.

In a post on March 10( “IFDA SPEAKER says Preneed is terminal,it will die.“) I stated that preneed will die or be dead by January1st 2010.

The Tribune Article came up with statements by  funeral directors and several experts who stated preneed was no longer profitable for the funeral director.

‘David Nixon, an Illinois financial consultant to funeral homes…..The (IFDA) debacle has given Nixon more reason to advise Illinois funeral directors to stop selling guaranteed funeral contracts. “It really doesn’t make sense in the long run to guarantee things that are beyond your control,” he said.’

“In Rockland, Mass., Robert Biggins stopped offering guaranteed contracts six months ago at his funeral home. Some funeral costs increase by more than 5 percent a year, but banks are not paying that much for deposits, said Biggins, past president of the National Funeral Directors Association.“

Also quoted was Bonnie McCullough, executive director of the New York State Funeral Directors Association. She said  ” We’re in unprecedented times right now,” she said. “Can you guarantee what something is going to cost 15 years from now?”

The main reason over the years that Funeral Directors collected and hung on to large numbers of preneed policies was they received the interest on the folks money. Large Funeral Homes and funeral groups, corporate funeral homes, in actuality  during many years received more money in preneed commissions than they did from doing funerals each year!  Just like Wall Street it all came down to greed.

The evidence for this also comes from the two big Funeral Corporations, Service Corporation and Stewart Enterprises who showed extensive losses in  their cemetery preneed in there last financial reports.

This  was  a bubble for funeral directors and  it gave funeral home owners lots of dollars.  Like all bubbles this one has burst.

Traditional Preneed in effect was decapitated in 2008 by the economic down turn, the NPS and the IFDA scandals. In spite of efforts to reattach the head, it cannot be done.

Thanks to the Chicago Tribune for some affirmations on the death of preneed.

Your Funeral Guy thanks the Chicago Tribune for the affirmations on the Death and dying of preneed, or prepaid funerals.

Funeral Industry| Funeral Cost blog by Your Funeral Guy, R.Brian Burkhardt

Sources :The Chicago Tribune Article here and the research and funeral experience of your funeral guy.

Decapitation picture from flicker creative commons license from Old Scool’s Photo stream

The IFDA scandal is the tip of the iceberg of bigger scams.

Here is The “Tip of the Iceberg” on the IFDA  Scandal. The license suspension of  Merrill Lynch Employee who sold Key Guy Insurance to the IFDA  shows that the IFDA Scandal is only a small part of a bigger swindle.. This  not good news for the funeral industry, prepaid funerals(preneed) and funeral costs.

The loss of integrity and TRUST by the IFDA is bad enough. There is more.

Merrill Lynch(MLBT) has lost integrity and trust with Wall Street and the American people. So  has the new owner of Merrill Lynch- Bank of America (BOFA). Both have received massive funding from the US Treasury.

Both MLBT and BOFA are under Federal Investigation, and there are signs that the IFDA ( Illinois Funeral Directors Association)and possibly Regulators in Illinois  are being investigated by enforcing agencies.

So we have scandal “IFDA” on top of  scandal “Merrill Lynch” on top of scandal Bank of America.

The Merrill Lynch individual salesman’s License is only a small ice chunk on the  tip of the iceberg. Many investigations are going on by the media ( state,local and national) and State and Federal  Enforcing Agencies.

The significant line  the Chicago Tribune article is this: ” insurance policies was “unsuitable” for the trust and violated state securities laws.” The  Friday the 13th Trib Article” shows that in Illinois that the Secretary of State, the Comptroller, and the Department of Financial Regulation are all investigating.

We know the Senator Burris (D-IL) mess and  Impeached Governor Blagojevich are under the tip of the iceberg with “THE REST OF THE STORY” as well. These two  highly PUBLIC Investigations are connected to the IFDA Funeral Mess.

Time will tell us what is  ALL under the water.

Funeral Industry| Funeral Costs Blog by R.Brian Burkhardt -Your Funeral Guy.

The two excellent sources here are.

Chicago Tribune article of Friday the 13th of March 2009.

The Springfield Journal Register article of March 11th 2009.
preneed